It’s Take Three for the Republican White House hopefuls in Ames, Iowa, tonight.

The GOP candidates welcome former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to the debate stage. Can he make enough of a splash to spark a much-needed surge? Will Tim Pawlenty take a shot at Mitt Romney, if the chance presents itself? And how will Mr. Romney rebut the expected attacks?

There are plenty of storylines to follow in tonight’s debate on Fox News, so stick with Wash Wire for the running commentary.

Fox asks the candidates to put the talking points aside. It doesnâ€™t last for a single response. Rep. Michele Bachmann drops her signature line about making President Barack Obama â€œone-term president.â€

Debate moderator and Fox host Bret Baier doesnâ€™t wait for other Republicans to take a shot at Romney. He asks him directly why he was absent from the debt-ceiling debate. Romney wades into a windy policy response.

Jon Huntsman, flailing in the polls, does a little bio work in his first answer, talking up his job creation rate as Utah governor and makes a reference to the stateâ€™s AAA credit rating â€“ something former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney needed more tax revenue to achieve.

Tim Pawlenty offers to cook some lucky winner dinner â€“ or mow their lawn â€“ if they can find Barack Obamaâ€™s plan to grow the economy. His caveat amounts to the first shot of the night: â€œIn case Mitt wins, Iâ€™m limited to one acre.â€

If there were any question about whose battling for primacy in Iowa, Fox has just settled it by sparking a lengthy spat between Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann. The two Minnesotans dispatched the stateâ€™s famed collegiality to go after each other ahead of Saturday’s Iowa Straw Poll. Pawlenty shrunk from attacks in the last debate; he came out punching tonight.

Tim Pawlenty says he regrets increasing fees on cigarette sales to shore up a budget shortfall that led to the first government shutdown in Minnesota in 150 years. He usually doesnâ€™t concede the point.

Tim Pawlenty jokes about his failure to attack Mitt Romney in the last debate and then assails the former Massachusetts governor by comparing him to President Barack Obama â€“ something Michele Bachmann just did to him.

In addition to health-care, Pawlenty says spending went up all four years in Massachusetts under Romney, and that Romney nominated judges who were not strict constructionists.

Expect plenty of conspiracy theories about Michele Bachmannâ€™s departure from stage, but she didnâ€™t feed the chatter about her rivalry with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. â€œI like Sarah Palin a lot,â€

Michele Bachmann said earlier in the debate she had to choose between voting against anti-abortion language and a tax increase while in the Minnesota state legislature. Hereâ€™s what we were able to dig up from a quick clip search.

According to a 2005 Minnesota Public Radio report, the battle was a over a health care budget bill passed in the last hours of a legislative session.

It included a 75-cents-per-pack cigarette tax, estimated to raise $400 million over two years. Itâ€™s supporters called it a health impact fee. Then-Republican state Rep. Phil Krinkie said this, â€œI don’t believe anyone in the state of Minnesota outside of the governor’s office believes that a health impact fee is not a tax increase.”

The bill put several Republicans in a pickle because it included language favored by anti-abortion groups. Bachmann just said she voted for the measure because of the anti-abortion language, not the cigarette fee.

“It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t efficient, but it was democracy with all of its warts and all of its demands,” Tim Pawlenty said at the time, according to MPR.

Of all the rivalries to emerge during tonightâ€™s debate, the most fascinating may be that between Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Theyâ€™ve had philosophical debates about the limits of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution and whether to engage Iran diplomatically. (10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.)

Say what you will about the rest of the debate, but these two guys are having a pretty substantive conversation about two complex issues.

Many of Michele Bachmannâ€™s responses have become unequivocal statements of principle. The latest: â€œAs president of the United States, I will do everything to make sure Iran does not become a nuclear power.â€

Rick Santorum is known for his opposition to gay rights in the U.S., but heâ€™s apparently concerned about them in Iran. Â Santorum said that Iran â€œtramples on the rights of women, tramples on the rights of gaysâ€

Byron York of the Washington Examiner draws sustained boos for asking Michele Bachmann if, as president, she would be submissive to her husband â€“ echoing a comment Bachmann made in 2006 when she was running for Congress.

The congresswoman spins the question on its ear by trumpeting her devotion to her husband, Marcus, and their trust of one another. And she does it with a smile.

He just got in heated arguments with Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann over whether Iran is a threat to the country and if terrorists should be read Miranda rights.

When Santorum argued the Islamic republic is a serious threat to Israel and America, Â Paul replied that Iran is no worse than the Soviet Union, which the U.S. allowed to keep nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

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Bachmann later said, â€œterrorists who commit acts against the U.S. people do not have any rights under our Constitution.â€

Jon Huntsman blames the Environmental Protection Agency for outsourcing â€“ in response to a question about the Huntsman Corp.’sÂ job creation overseas. He doesnâ€™t address the underlying question about the number of foreign employees who work for his dadâ€™s chemical company.

Michele Bachmann, an outspoken critic of increasing the debt ceiling, calls for prioritizing payments instead of raising the countryâ€™s borrowing limit, and she brushed aside the interest-rate impact on homeowners, college kids and other borrowers.

Rick Santorum has emerged as the unlikely scourge for tea-party favorites Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul.

In a single answer, he just questioned any candidate who claims to be the leader of the tea party â€“ Bachmann â€“ and scolded both for voting against legislation to increase the countryâ€™s borrowing limit.

Jon Huntsman, after a largely measured debate appearance, applauds the unpopular by telling the audience that he was the only candidate on stage to favor raising the debt-ceiling and offers praise for House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), an endorsement the speaker may or may not appreciate.

Michele Bachmann makes her second pitch for support at the Ames Straw Poll â€“ something Tim Pawlenty has yet to do â€“ but the invitation suggests her standing might be shakier than most of the pundit class believes.

About Washington Wire

Washington Wire is one of the oldest standing features in American journalism. Since the Wire launched on Sept. 20, 1940, the Journal has offered readers an informal look at the capital. Now online, the Wire provides a succession of glimpses at what’s happening behind hot stories and warnings of what to watch for in the days ahead. The Wire is led by Reid J. Epstein, with contributions from the rest of the bureau. Washington Wire now also includes Think Tank, our home for outside analysis from policy and political thinkers.